


'Tis Beniesd

by tansybells



Series: Flayn Week 2020 [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Apparently Involves Breathing Fire On Accident, Aunt-Niece Relationship, Comfort No Hurt, Draconic Puberty, Family Feels, Fear of Death, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Spoilers, Flayn Week (Fire Emblem), Gen, Pre-Timeskip | Academy Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Spoilers for Flayn's Paralogue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:28:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25213933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tansybells/pseuds/tansybells
Summary: For so long, Flayn has believed herself exempt from the ever-moving flow of time. Yet when she wakes one morning and nearly sets her room aflame on accident, she must turn to the one person she hopes can help her: Lady Rhea.Day Two: Family
Relationships: Flayn & Rhea (Fire Emblem)
Series: Flayn Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1824445
Comments: 11
Kudos: 45





	'Tis Beniesd

**Author's Note:**

> 'tis beniesd - literally translates to "it is sneezed upon" in flemish, usually used to confirm claims that are not immediately obvious to the general listener. 
> 
> like "flayn is a dragon and she deserves more draconic traits." 'tis beniesd.

Flayn  _ could not _ breathe. The back of her throat burned, yet she could not allow herself to cough and try to dislodge the uncomfortable feeling.

This was, without a shadow of a doubt, the worst day of her life. And as she ran up the stairs to where her aunt resided, she kept her hands clapped tightly over her mouth. It was not until she stood in front of Rhea’s bedchambers that she moved one hand away and began to knock furiously.

“Lady Rhea,” she practically sobbed as she knocked on the door to her aunt’s rooms. The sound of her knocking seemed to echo endlessly, which only added to her desperation. “Lady Rhea, please,  _ please  _ let me in! I need your assistance, and there is no one else to whom I may turn!”

Seconds passed, which turned into minutes. Flayn danced anxiously before the door, hoping beyond hope that her prayer would be answered before someone else came by looking for her aunt’s attention. She did not know that she would be able to stand it if she were to be witnessed by another person.

“Lady Rhea,” she pleaded once more, knocking one last time before her hand fell down at her side. She let her forehead fall forward and rest against the ornately carved wood of Rhea’s bedroom door. “Please, let me in. I cannot explain how important it is to me.”

She did not have to wait for much longer, thankfully, as the door opened to reveal Rhea’s concerned face. Flayn immediately rushed forth and buried her face in the thick, silky fabric of the robe that Rhea had thrown over her bedclothes. The heavy embroidery on Rhea’s robe was scratchy enough that it made Flayn’s nose begin to itch, however, and her eyes widened in terror.

“Flayn, child, whatever is going on?” she heard her aunt ask as she turned away and pinched her nose in a desperate attempt to prevent herself from sneezing. The itch traveled from the tip of her nose to the bridge, and as it moved even further back and burned at the back of her nose, Flayn found that she could no longer hold it back.

She sneezed, and from her mouth burst a jet of flame.

The fire dissipated quickly, leaving naught but a scorch mark upon the marble tiling. Flayn wiped her eyes of tears—she had yet to become adjusted to the process of breathing fire—and quietly coughed up a plume of smoke. 

Rhea’s expression, to her credit, was decidedly neutral as she grabbed hold of Flayn’s shoulder and dragged her into her chambers.

“How long has this been going on, sweet Flayn?” Rhea asked, kneeling down before Flayn and looking up to her. To Flayn’s relief, her aunt’s previously neutral expression had dissipated in favor of one that was far more concerned. Gone seemed to be the all-encompassing love of Lady Rhea, leader of the Church of Seiros, and all that faced her was the focused love and attention of her beloved aunt.

In that moment, Rhea was hers and hers alone, and she would not have it any other way.

“It—it began this morning,” Flayn sniffled. She pressed the palms of her hands right below her eyes, hoping that the little bit of additional pressure would help keep her from bursting into tears. “I almost set my room aflame, Lady Rhea! The curtains nearly caught, for I sneezed upon awakening. At least—I think I sneezed; I think that is all I could have done. Unless I coughed! Coughing seems to have the very same effect as sneezing, and oh, I am so scared that I shall ruin the life Brother and I have made for ourselves—”

“Hush, child.” Rhea reached up and brushed her fingers across Flayn’s bangs with a kind, fond smile. “Flayn, it is just the two of us here. You may allow the pretense to drop. He is your father, as I am your aunt, and it is acceptable to address us as such in our privacy.”

Flayn’s lower lip wobbled; she pressed her palms harder against her face. It had been years since she had been allowed to speak to Rhea in such an informal manner; between that permission to speak truthfully and the sudden flames that had been torturing her all morning, it was too much for her to handle.

Tears began to leak out from beneath her palms. Rhea said nothing, but simply reached up and brushed the tears from her face with the edge of her sleeve.

“I do not know what is going on with me, Aunt Rhea,” Flayn finally said in a trembling voice. “I am afraid, more than I have been in years. Is something happening to me? Is this yet again because of my blood?” 

“Does your father know of this yet?” Rhea asked.

“No, no!” Flayn grabbed out for Rhea’s shoulders, held onto her so tightly that, were her nails any sharper, she would fear tearing her aunt’s clothes. She stared at Rhea unblinkingly with red-rimmed eyes, sore from her tears. “Please, I beg you—do not tell my father of this! He will—he will spirit me away in an instant should he think I am at risk, and I could not bear to lose what little freedom I do have!”

Rhea looked at her with pity in her eyes and a smile upon her lips. “Oh, dear one,” she said softly, “I wouldn’t dream of doing that to you. You have only begun to blossom as time has passed on, and he would sooner lock you up than risk having you plucked from his grasp.”

Flayn blinked at her, her head slowly tilting in confusion. “Blossoming with time?” she asked. “I am afraid I do not know what you mean.”

Rhea’s expression took a turn for the sympathetic, and Flayn could not hold back a slight frown. Once again, her lack of exposure to the world in which she lived had put her in a nigh-impossible situation to maneuver! Would such horrors ever cease? She opened her mouth to say something she would surely regret, something impetuous that no one—least of all her venerated  _ aunt _ —would ever deserve to hear, but Rhea held a finger to her lips.

“I only mean to say,” Rhea hurried to speak as she drew her finger away, “that you have finally resumed your walk upon the path of life. No longer are you frozen in time, my child, for it is the will of your grandmother that you learn to live as the young dragon that you truly are. This very thing happened to me, long ago, and I can promise you that control will only come with time.”

Flayn’s jaw dropped. She knew that she was a child of dragons, that Rhea herself as the Immaculate One was living proof that there were certain changes that those of the the Nabatean race would undergo—but it had been so long, she had been alive for so long with no change that she had begun to give up hope in ever coming into her promised heritage.

“And you promise that this is the truth?” Flayn hurried to ask, almost as though she feared that taking too long would rid her of the opportunity to learn more. “I am—this is normal for someone of my age in our family?” She let her voice fall to a whisper and leaned in close to Rhea’s ear as though allowing her underlying fear to be heard by anyone else would somehow make it reality. “It is not a sign of my impending demise?”

“No, Flayn,  _ no _ ,” Rhea reassured her in a soft croon, meant for Flayn’s ears only, and she wrapped Flayn up in a light embrace. “Flayn, I promise you. This is perfectly normal for a young dragon at your age. It happened to me, it happened to your father, it happened to—”

“Not my mother.”

Rhea hesitated.

“No, not your mother. She was human, as you well know.”

Flayn let herself sag into Rhea’s arms; her beloved aunt only tightened her embrace and allowed Flayn to collapse upon her lap. The morning had been so overwhelming; she wanted nothing more than to close her eyes and forget it had ever happened. Rhea stroked her hair rhythmically and hummed a quiet song that tapped into some distant, comforting memory in Flayn’s mind.

She was not given the opportunity to stay there for long, however, for the door to Rhea’s room opened with a loud crash. Seteth burst into the room. His eyes were wide with concern, his circlet was set askew, his hair was mussed and it hung in his face like limp strands of seaweed.

“Rhea, have you seen Flayn?” He spoke frantically, like he only had a few moments to search her room before moving on to the next. “She is not in her room, and her curtains are  _ burnt _ ! Something must have happened—”

“Shhhh,” Rhea hushed, even as she continued brushing her fingers through Flayn’s curls. “She has had a most difficult morning and simply needs some rest.”

Flayn glanced over to him with a faint smile, weary from her tears and the panic of the morning, and held a hand out for him to take. With a smile of relief, Seteth knelt down beside what remained of his family and took her hand in his own like it was the most precious gift.

“Why are you here?” he asked as he patted the top of her hand. “It is rare for you to seek out Rhea on your own.”

“I am growing up,” Flayn announced, pride permeating her voice, despite it being so quiet. “I am growing up, despite all of the indications that I might have not.”

Tears welled up in Seteth’s eyes; Flayn clasped his hand tightly. And then, content in the knowledge that she was surrounded by the two people who loved her most in the world, she sighed happily.

Alas, her guard had fallen far too low. 

“Flayn, since when have you been breathing fire?!”

**Author's Note:**

> because intsys are cowards who gave us "flayn is a dragon" without actually giving us. dragon flayn. 
> 
> Anyway! Again, eternal beta gratitude to [Lily](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blooming_Spiderlily/pseuds/Blooming_Spiderlily), and the rest of this week's creations can be found at [the official Flayn Week 2020 twitter!](https://twitter.com/flaynweek)
> 
> Super excited for tomorrow's prompt. See you then! ❤︎


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